At last BJP happily embraced UPA’s nuclear deal: Congress to Obama

Congress delegation led by Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Rahul that called on President Barack Obama

NEW DELHI: The Congress told President Barack Obama that UPA government had scripted the India-US nuclear deal and was happy that parties opposed it earlier had embraced it now.

In a reference to BJP, a Congress delegation led by Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Rahul that called on Obama said "those" who followed a partisan agenda six years ago had realized that the course charted by the UPA regime was correct.

In a reference to BJP, a Congress delegation led by Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Rahul that called on Obama said "those" who followed a partisan agenda six years ago had realized that the course charted by the UPA regime was correct.

"Congress risked its government and expanded the relationship. Government is a continuum and we are happy that those who opposed the deal have changed their views," deputy leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma said, quoting discussions at Maurya Hotel with Obama and wife Michelle which lasted an hour on Monday.

UPA-1 had initiated the civil nuclear deal with the Bush administration, starting a chain of events that culminated in an agreement during Obama's visit this week, raising the prospect of the deal being finally operationalized. Even while backing the nuclear deal, Congress has reacted cautiously on the latest agreement on the liability issue, saying it would wait to see the fine print of the pact before offering its stand.

The US President, Sharma said, hailed former PM Singh as the original author of reforms much before he came to lead the UPA regime, a reference to his actions as finance minister under Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. Singh noted that Congress was in favour of "reforms with a human face" because of the poverty levels in the country, underlining it was the difference between his party and others.

Singh underlined the need for "closer economic partnership" between the two countries. In discussions spanning bilateral, regional and global subjects, the leaders exchanged concerns and assessments about Iraq, Syria and beyond as also the threat of radicalization and terrorism, the key security concerns dogging the world.

The Congress members affirmed their resolve to fight terror.

Obama, according to Sharma, said the strength of India lies in its pluralism and tolerance, co-existence of people in a multireligious society.